While America and Europe changes their social media profile pictures
to show solidarity with victims of one European country, then another,
victims of terrorism in non-European and American countries are
receiving virtual no attention – let alone sympathy – when they receive
even higher death tolls from ISIS.
After the horrific attack on Brussels, it’s worth noting how the
major attacks that have recently been carried out by ISIS, or
ISIS-sympathizing groups, have been reported in the media – and
subsequently how they have been received on social media:

March 22, 2016, Brussels, 34 killed – HEADLINE NEWSMarch 20, 2015, Yemen, 137 killed – no headline
April 18, 2015, Afghanistan, 33 killed – no headline
June 26, 2015, Tunisia, 38 killed – no headline
June 29, 2015, Yemen, 35 killed – no headline
October 10, 2015, Ankara, Turkey, 97 killed – no headlineOctober 31, 2015, Russian plan, 224 killed – HEADLINE NEWSNovember 21, 2015, Beirut, 43 killed – no headlineNovember 13, 2015, Paris, 130 killed – HEADLINE NEWSDecember 2, 2015, San Bernardino, 14 killed – HEADLINE NEWS
January 8, 2016 Libya, 50 killed – no headline
March 6, 2016 (only two weeks ago), Baghdad, 47 killed – no headline
March 13, 2016 (last week), Grand-Bassam, 22 killed – no headline
March 15, 2016 (last week), Ankara, Turkey, 35 killed – no headline
ISIS is killing more Muslims and Africans than any other group. Yet
for some reason Western media is only highlighting when Europeans and
Americans get killed.
This feeds into a “Muslims are against us” mentality, when in fact
what we are facing is an imperialist terrorist cult, that targets
Muslims more than any other group of people.
Just last week, Grand-Bassam’s beaches were filled people enjoying the Sunday afternoon.
With temperatures on the rise, many across Ivory Coast came to the city’s oceanfront resorts to enjoy the ocean.

For terrorists, this was a perfect opportunity.
Six figures all in black appeared on the beach, wearing balaclavas
and carrying guns. Before anyone could process what was going on, the
terrorists opened fire.
They had AK-47 Kalashnikov rifles and hand grenades, which they used on anyone within sight.

They marched across the sand, shredding men, women and children – both Ivorians and foreigners alike.
When security forces arrived, the terrorist gunmen killed two of them as well.
“They killed a child, despite him kneeling down and begging,” one
witness told the BBC. “They shot a woman in the chest. I swear, I heard
them shouting ‘Allahu Akbar.’ They’ve killed innocent people.”
But aside from sources like the BBC and NPR, this story was simply not covered in the mainstream Western media.

About Priyankar Calicut

Reporting for publications like Foreign Policy, TIME, World Affairs Journal, and Political Science Monitor, Sotloff called himself on Twitter a "stand-up philosopher from E.S" and was a big E.S Heat fan.